Introduction

Understanding Coscientious Objection

CO Process in the Military

Your Application

Your Place in History

CCW's Comprehensive Guide on Military Conscientious Objection

Your place in History

The rights we currently have under U.S.  law have come at a cost.

When you take your stance against war, you are part of a heritage that goes back thousands of years.  You are standing on the shoulders of thousands who have gone before you and paved the way.  The protections we currently have are in place because of those who stood up in the face of many obstacles, often when the culture was wrapped up in a fervor for war, and remained true to their conscience.  You are an heir to this long legacy, and a pioneer for these rights in the future.

Some scholars believe that the conscription system described in Deuteronomy 20:5-8 is the earliest recorded provision for accommodating COs.   Ancient rabbis interpreted this to mean there was an exemption for those who were afraid they might sin by killing someone. Most of the Christian martyrs from the first two centuries were martyred for refusing to fight in the army of the Roman Empire.

Many of the people who came to America in colonial times seeking religious freedom were conscientious objectors seeking to live in a place where they would not be forced by a government to fight in war and violate their conscientious objector beliefs.

The treatment of COs in the U.S.  has varied through the years, and current military policy has evolved from this legacy of struggle, and it continues.

The colonies of Massachusetts and Rhode Island exempted conscientious objectors from the requirement to bear arms in the 1600’s but this was not the case in other colonies.  During the Revolutionary War conscientious objectors were not well received throughout the colonies.  During that war a group of Quakers refused to carry weapons because to do so would violate their beliefs, so their muskets were forcibly tied to their backs! It was none other than George Washington, who upon learning of this sent these men home.

During the Civil War, there was some legal accommodation, but treatment of conscientious objectors varied, and generally it was not very good.  During this time were the first reports of COs in the U.S.  being tortured:  hung by their thumbs and pierced by bayonets.

During World War I, COs were treated very poorly.   One hundred forty two received life sentences and 17 were sentenced to death.  No one was executed, but 18 died in jail because of harsh and abusive treatment.

In World War II, “The Good War”, approximately 37,000 people were recognized as COs and performed alternative service or served as non-combatants in the military.  Thousands more went to jail rather than compromise their CO beliefs.

Gen.  S.L.A.  Marshall, the Army’s official historian of World War II, discovered that in most units more than three quarters of the soldiers in combat situations did not shoot their weapons at “the enemy,” even when their own safety was at risk.  He wrote, “[The American soldier] is what his home, his religion, his schooling and the moral code and ideals of his society have made him…He comes from a civilization in which aggression, connected with the taking of life, is prohibited and unacceptable…[this teaching] has been expressed to him so strongly and absorbed by him so deeply and pervasively—practically with his mother’s milk—that it is part of a normal man’s emotional makeup.  This is his great handicap when he enters combat…” Marshall went on to say, “at the vital moment [the rifleman] becomes a conscientious objector.”

Because of the poor treatment of COs during World War I, as the U.S. was preparing to enter World War II, some U.S. churches lobbied hard to ensure that the rights of conscientious objectors would be protected under the new draft law.

Those churches also created an organization to help place conscientious objectors into alternative service and to advocate for the rights of conscientious objectors.  Thus The Center on Conscience & War was created. The Center was originally called The National Service Board for Religious Objectors and was later known as The National Interreligious Service Board for Conscientious Objectors (NISBCO). Yet conscientious objectors continued to be looked down upon in a society that was increasingly militarized.

In 1962 the DoD established the current policy for dealing with those who come to the realization that they are conscientious objectors after they are in the military.  This policy is based on the draft law that was passed in 1940.  Since that time thousands of military personnel have been honorably discharged as conscientious objectors.

The system is far from perfect, as you will discover as you go through the process, and conscientious objectors still sometimes end up in jail.  The Center continues to pressure the government to improve the process and treat COs more fairly.

Most importantly, the Center on Conscience & War continues to stand with people like you, who are seeking to be true to their conscience.